Why should we have to close the local chat to avoid spamming?

If ever a thread is created to discuss spamming, you will always get a minority of people making the same comment...

"If you dont like spamming, then close the local chat and ignore it"

...but why should we have to?

I've replied to alot of people who make those comments, and I'm yet to find any who give a good reason why we should just turn a blind eye and ignore it.

So im asking now! Why should we have to ignore spamming and abuse of the chat channels, or abuse in general?

Why, especially in capital cities where most of the population hang out, where most of the interaction happens and where conversations are intended to occur.

Why should we be expected to turn a blind eye, when it prevents us from doing one of the primary aspects of an MMO! Communicating and having conversations?

Im not after starting an arquement, I just want a genuine explanation about why that is expected of us by some players!

The "culture" changed over time. If people avoided buying from local chat requests, sellers would refrain, it won't happen.

That being said, it's not my right to tell others how to play the game the way anet allows.

I choose myself (if I have local on even) to not buy anything advertised from the local chat.

And anet tried to with filters at least.. but every time anet would "tweak" the filter to catch the work around, new jargon would be developed to avoid it.

I do think Anet is addressing this with GW2, and auction/trade house plus more in place other thing's they've learned from and will attempt to put in to place to prevent it in yet to be unknown ways.

Lion's Arch is the *main* nexus for players in Tryia as well as cross travelers.
All *starting* cities is where new and existing players making new characters start out, there logical choices for that sort of thing.
Drak's Forge is also logical due to the "destination" of lvl 20 armor for the 1st time for Tryia characters.

I'll tell you why, because that's what ANet tells you to do when you report someone for spamming. I once reported someone for spamming and the reply I got back was, turn off local chat.

you turn off local chat in major outposts because the trade system, for the most part, is broke.

wouldn't you also consider trading to be an important aspect of an mmo? im sure anet knows that their in-game trading system is a joke, so it would be stupid on their part to conduct wide, sweeping bans for people who choose to spam local and trade channels.

if you want something done about the spam, ask anet for further "trade improvements".

I think that for now, accepting that the AD1 of major cities are the trading districts. Once they implement good trading changes (as they have said they will), it should work itself out

Must admit ive had to turn Local chat off (18 months ive been able to cope with it) its almost impossible to trade with it on now! WTS Unided GOLDZ!!!!!! macros kill me -_-

i find it alot easier to chat on the trade channel now.

*waits for the temp ignore list*

Lets don't turn this thread into another whine about the trade system. There are already several other threads about that. Go do your whinning there.

the op asked why he has to turn off local chat to avoid spam and the reason is because the in-game trading system is broke. im not whining, im simply giving the op an answer.

And its the right answer.

The trading system for this game is absolutely pathetic. And its absolutely pathetic that Anet cannot figure out how to fix it.

And no, it isn't an Auction house. It's something thats ingame but is completely useless, compared to using Allchat for trading. A simple increase of its character limit and you can implement bannings for people who spam constantly .Since, I would be FOR it. Theres another way of trading, and the reason for banning is justified if such a system was actually in place. But it isn't.

What's truly sad is that the people who complain about spammers are far too retarded to actually use their time and energy into telling Anet to fix Party Search, which in turn will actually make banning people for spamming a accepted action.

I hate people selling in local , I have been put on a few ignore lists for doing this , but I enjoy it , especialy when ppl snap at me , but IF there message says " < > {W T Sell} mini pet Wisp offer < > " I keep wispering to them 100gold ... that way the ask why im doing it , i tell the to use the (words go here ) trade channel .... or just put in tc " WTS trade channel , barly used 50k ono " which usaly gets a comment or 2...

Yes I do consider Trading a major aspect, but what you failed to mention was that Traders have a dedicated channel all for that!!

So again, how is it acceptable for traders to flood the all channel and completely deprive non-traders of being able to have conversations?

That means traders have 2 places to spam sales notices, while the casual player who just wants a conversation has no where! Sorry, but your reasoning about Anet not giving us a good trade system is wrong.

The trade system they provide works fine, the problems start when people abuse or refuse to use it. You cant blame the software, because the users abuse it.

This is my question...

...how is acceptable to spam the "all channel" with sales spams, when traders have a dedicated channel all for them?


Answer....

...the is none! There is no excuse to abuse the "all channel" to a degree that i cannot be used by non-traders. Yet non-traders are expected to simple turn off chat, and ignore it completely. We're expected to stand to one side, and give in to the sales and the trading.

Why?

Well, i prefer to answer the original question: Why should we have to close the local chat to avoid spamming?

I think the answer is: spammers can abuse the local chat and they dont care about what you and i think of it...

Only anet can fix this problem, but it seems they dont care...

All anet could think of was to move messages starting with WTS en WTB to the trade channel. So now we see W T S, iWTS, W>T<S, etc etc and the spammers keep continueing their lame business.

I have seen anough good/decent solutions in Sardelac (like disabling the "repeat old message" while in local chat and in a town/outpost), but nothing happens with those suggestions. Anet doesnt care (enough)

Sadly...

I can't handle it anymore.

If you're talking about trade spamming in local chat, that's pretty much just god damn homosexual and nothing else. People spam in local chat because people close trade chat (so you don't have to endure all the trade spam), but guess what; PEOPLE CLOSE TRADE CHAT BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT INTERESTED IN BUYING ANYTHING, AND YES, I SAID THAT IN CAPS!
/rant

I'm not a great fan of spam. On the other hand, I'm always amused when outraged players spam local in a known trading area - LA1 or Kamaden1 - complaining about spam. At times, the complainers - using local - outnumber the traders who spam there.

For people who are really bothered by trade spam, there's no need to turn off local ... just hang out in districts where you're less likely to find spammers. Whether it's a good thing, or a bad thing, hanging out in one of the trade centers and being shocked at finding local spam is sort of like sticking your hand in the fire and being outraged that it burned you.

Why are these trading areas so crowded: I think it's because most players are there trying to sell or buy. Otherwise they'd be in a quieter area. Frankly the trade chat is what draws most people to those places.

The SHOULD forgo the "Trade channel" lol .. and have a "Trade Zone" for buying and selling only ...1 zone purly for that ...A GRAND MARKET if you will , like the isle of trade , that all chars regardles of lvl can get to , (sort of like the temple of balthazar...)

The problem, unfortunately, wouldnt go away even if they gave us a dedicated town and/or a dedicated district to trade in.

People will always flood to the busiest areas to trade, and if the trade towns or trade districts are empty....

...they go to the next, busiest place!

I'd like to mention that the spamming problem not at all confined to trade. Everyone keeps bringing up the trade problem, and yes, its a problem, but its not the ONLY thing being spammed, and all spam is annoying. In the same places where trade is being spammed , I (repeatedly) see stuff like:

"Can someone lend me <insert amount of money> for <insert merchant item> ?"
"Running to <location> for <price>"
"<insert stupid comment here, ie. Who wants to see me dance?>"
"Join my lousy guild, free cape, all 2 members are awsome, 500 bucks to join..."

The public chat has gotten stupid anyway. I think the original intent was allow people to ask questions and get help, but now its all either spam or annoying teenager chat ("hey, your hot! wanna dance nekkid with me?") so honestly - I agree. Turn off the local chat. Your friends can still whisper you. Your guild and alliance can still message you. Whats so important on local chat that you need to have it open anyway?

By the way, is there some reason that ANet can't build a filter into the chat so that a message repeated less then 60 seconds after it was sent just doesn't show up?

"

why stop there? why not make folks heads go splody if >50% of any part of any message in any channel (including whisper) is repeated within 1 minute.